Native Nerds | Our Organization's News Blog

College Horizons has joined #GivingTuesday, a first of its kind effort that will harness the collective power of a unique blend of partners - charities, families, tribes, businesses and individuals - to transform how people think about, talk about and participate in the giving season. Coinciding with the Thanksgiving Holiday and the kickoff of the holiday shopping season, #GivingTuesday inspires people to take collaborative action to improve their local communities and tribal nations, to give back in better, smarter ways to the charities and causes they support and help create a better world. Beginning tomorrow, College Horizons invites you to participate by making a contribution to our organization as part of your holiday giving plans.

To make a gift this holiday season, please visit the Give page of our website.

To learn more about #GivingTuesday participants and activities or to join the celebration of giving, please visit:

#CHDartmouth

A few highlights from College Horizons at Dartmouth College:

Over 40 partner college reps, high school counselors and organizations served as expert faculty at the program

Staff and interns arrived early to prepare for the program; Dartmouth's admission office accommodated the crew for setup

Faculty arrived a day early in preparation for students

Some students traveling from Hawaii, Alaska and some west coast communities arrived a day early to adjust for the time zone changes

Students were present for a total for six days to Dartmouth's campus in Hanover, New Hampshire

For many of our students, this was the first time riding on a plane and for an even larger number their first visit to New England

Dartmouth College was a terrific host - we had great dorms, awesome food and beautiful surroundings

The diversity of the students was at an all-time high (state, regional, tribal, gender)

Students connected with one another and with faculty both within small groups and as a larger community

Paul Iona (Native Hawaiian), a 3rd year student of Chapman University's MFA Program in Film and CH Alumnus, was at the program volunteering his time to film promotional content for us - a new video will soon be released!

Kevin Patterson (Navajo) and Maggie Seawright (Lakota), both current Dartmouth undergraduates and CH Alumni, served as interns at the program and worked tirelessly to ensure the program's success

A CH alumna and long serving faculty of the program, Dr. Adrienne Keene, was honored for completing her Ed.D program at Harvard University. Adrienne's doctoral research highlights the higher ed experiences of Native students of the College Horizons program! She first attended CH at Dartmouth back in 2002 so it was a full circle experience for our program.

Traditional night was a meaningful and fun event with many students sharing everything from regalia to dances and protocol from their traditions and homelands

Students were exhausted by the end of the program having fulfilled all of our program requirements (college essay revisions, Common Application drafts, researching a list of 10 schools to apply to, trivial pursuit questions from our partner institutions, FAFSA forms, scholarship searches, etc.)

HUGE storms coincided with the end of the program and about 15 students were stranded overnight with many more delays at both Manchester and Boston Airports. After an adventurous evening, staff and faculty successfully saw that all students got out on flights the following day.

#GHCornell

A few highlights from Graduate Horizons at Cornell University (make sure to watch the video above!):

"Carmen Lopez, Executive Director of College Horizons, a non-profit dedicated to college success of Native American and Native Hawaiian students, believes this is especially true for students served by her program. "As a community-based organization that services underrepresented students, College Horizons has found the Common App's new essay prompts to be highly effective. Students are presenting themselves as multi-dimensional, writing with an authentic voice, and writing meaningfully as both students and Native students."'

The quote comes from yesterday's Common Application press release regarding a decision to retain the current essay prompts found on the 2013-2014 version of the college application form for 2014-2015. The Common Application is a non-profit organization that provides a consolidated application for students and educators to use when applying to any of the organization's 500+ member colleges. The vast majority of institutions that College Horizons currently partners with use the Common Application in their undergraduate admissions. College Horizons also utilizes the Common App as a curriculum tool when preparing high school students for the college admissions process.

The essay prompts are provided below:

Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?

Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea.What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?

Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?

Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

College Horizons was successfully held at two different campuses this past June and July: Hawaii Prep Academy in Kamuela, Hawaii and at New York University in Manhattan, New York. We are happy to report that every single one of the 197 students we admitted to the program made it to the programs safely, worked hard to complete our curriculum expectations throughout the week and then made it back home in one piece. A combination of amazing students, dedicated faculty and accommodating host institutions made both programs some of the best we have ever put on. And even though we strive to deliver the same rigorous curriculum at all of our programs, no two programs are ever the same. This year, it was particularly exciting for us to see just how similar and different both of our programs on completely opposite sides of the country and in different communities would play out. Read on for a few key highlights from each of our programs:

Hawaii Prep Academy (June 16-21)

As we stepped off the plane in Kona, the CH Staff were greeted by our gracious host and site coordinator, Joanie Brotman. The humid air, the open air design of the airport and the leis we received upon arrival all signaled to us that this was going to be a very different program than ones we usually host on the mainland.

The Big Island - this is the first thing we saw!

Joanie Brotman greets us at the airport with leis

It was exciting for us since this is only the second program College Horizons has been able to host in Hawaii so far - our first program was held in 2010 at University of Hawaii at Hilo. Below are some highlights from the program:

Approximately 90% of students who attended were Native Hawaiian; 10% of students were Native American or Alaska Native from the mainland

47 students local to the area attended the program from the Big Island - a record for College Horizons!

The local college fair was a huge success - over 300 families joined us to meet with our college partners at the public portion of our college fair

On the last day of the program, students and faculty climbed to the top of a nearby Pu'u (a small mountain/butte) to reflect. It was a powerful way to culminate our program, guided by Aunty Pua Case

The CH Staff used the Hawaii Prep Academy college counseling office throughout the week as our base of operations - a huge thank you to all the HPA staff who helped us make this program possible!

Students and faculty circle up on the soccer field to participate in ice breakers

New York University (July 7-12)

The view from our dorm rooms at NYU

Like the Big Island, New York City was also a new and fun experience for College Horizons. As Frank Sinatra said, "If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere!" After hosting a program in the Big Apple, we are confident that we would be capable of hosting a successful program anywhere in the country. Some key highlights from the program include:

This was the largest gathering of Native students held at NYU in recent memory, if not ever!

This was the first time in New York City for 79 of students attending the program

Students at the program represented 49 tribal nations from 22 states

All 100 of our students hopped on the subway with faculty chaperones to attend a Broadway show and then walked over to Times Square to experience quintessential New York. (No one got lost!)

This was the first time flying for 24 of our students and 53 students had never stayed overnight on a college campus before

NYU and the admissions office were terrific hosts - the dorms and meeting spaces we occupied during the week really made us feel at home while being in the heart of America's largest city

Students take to the subway before our broadway show!

By the end of our program our students seemed at home on the streets of NY